


superbloom

by tri_angle



Category: ATEEZ (Band)
Genre: Alternate Universe - Coffee Shops & Cafés, M/M, vague uni au
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2020-09-13
Updated: 2020-09-13
Packaged: 2021-03-06 17:21:36
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 3,307
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/26182594
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/tri_angle/pseuds/tri_angle
Summary: Jongho is a little oblivious and Wooyoung is a little in love.
Relationships: Choi Jongho/Jung Wooyoung
Comments: 4
Kudos: 53
Collections: K-Pop Ficmix 2020





	superbloom

**Author's Note:**

  * For [Bazzys](https://archiveofourown.org/users/Bazzys/gifts).
  * Inspired by [Restricted Work] by [Bazzys](https://archiveofourown.org/users/Bazzys/pseuds/Bazzys). Log in to view. 



> where do i begiiiiiiiiiin!! your fics!! are amazing!!! im so happy i got to have the honor of playing w one of them and let me tell you i almost dropped this 2/3rds in bc you posted the onf masterpiece? which i cant yet yell about but i will? youre such a good author ;; it was so much fun remixing this, i hope you like it ♥
> 
> title from [here](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=tv3gjE3zIIs)

“I hope you know it’s getting kind of ridiculous,” San says, absently stirring the straw in his horribly pink drink. It was labeled a milkshake but Wooyoung suspects it might be witch poison. 

“Nothing is more ridiculous than your witch poison,” is what Wooyoung says out loud. He glances at Jongho behind the counter and Jongho waves at him, a brief, bright smile before he returns to his customer. Wooyoung’s hand drops back to the table, the wave back never quite making it through. 

San sighs. “It’s not my fault you have basic taste,” he mutters, glaring at Wooyoung’s perfectly nice latte. “And you’re wrong. At this point I’m not sure which one of you is the more ridiculous one.”

“Me, clearly,” Wooyoung grumbles, staring at his hand. “We’re friends. We’re great friends.” 

The coffee is probably getting cold already which means he won’t finish it at all. A shame, Jongho had looked so happy when he made it. He always makes the best coffee, too. Tries extra hard with the latte art when it’s for Wooyoung.

“Hey, maybe he’ll figure it out soon.” San pats his fingers and when Wooyoung looks up, he’s met with sympathy. He hates it only a little.

He takes a sip of his latte and grimaces. It is cold, and he pushes the cup away.

“Right.”

*

It’s not the first time San has said something along those lines and Seonghwa looks increasingly worried each time Wooyoung shows up in the café, notices that Jongho is not on shift, then walks right back. It’s kind of shitty towards Seonghwa but Wooyoung feels bad about hanging out without buying anything and despite how it may look, he can’t actually afford their fancy coffee that often. Jongho… is an exception. Incentive. 

Sunshine.

That’s the reigning thought in Wooyoung’s mind when he comes face to face with Jongho’s toothy smile on an oddly warm day in the middle of spring.

“Hey,” Jongho says, looping his arm through Wooyoung’s like they’re close. Which they are, just not in the way Wooyoung would like. “Would you mind walking with me towards class? We’re getting our essays graded today and I wrote mine at like, midnight after a ten hour shift.”

“What am I, your lucky charm?” Wooyoung grumbles, even if the thought makes his annoying heart flutter.

Jongho laughs, bright and sunny, and Wooyoung _melts._ “I mean you might as well be. At the very least, I’ll have something nice to think about through the disaster.”

 _Friends,_ Wooyoung’s brain supplies unhelpfully, slashing right through the butterflies taking flight in his stomach. Their little hopeless bodies cover the ground and Wooyoung smiles in that way he has perfected since he was a child. It makes Jongho frown but Wooyoung soldiers on, fluttering his eyelashes hard enough that he knows it’ll earn him a laugh and maybe a shoulder slap. He can provide nice. The butterflies, he can deal with later.

*

Something’s gotta give.

It’s a phrase Hongjoong said to him, for something completely unrelated, but Wooyoung keeps thinking about it. 

Wooyoung isn’t particularly popular around campus but he has his fair share of girls glancing at him and subtly adjusting their posture so he can see their good angle. The glances come from boys too, even if those are usually less obvious, when they think he isn’t looking.

He has options, is the thing. And yet Jongho has been the only one occupying his thoughts since he joined their friend group. Wooyoung is not not shy either, yet Jongho somehow makes all the words tangle up in his throat and dissipate long before they reach his lips. 

Then Jongho throws a hand over Wooyoung’s shoulders, laughs that pretty laugh of his and says how happy he is they’re friends. 

So Wooyoung thinks about it: something’s gotta give. The annoying butterflies seem to be immortal maybe, or very hard to kill at least, because they’re relentless every time Jongho smiles, regardless of how many times they’ve fallen limp and lifeless before. 

Their friend group is close enough that an awkward crush gone wrong wouldn’t truly break them and big enough that, if it comes to it, Wooyoung could successfully avoid Jongho until the dust settles. It _could_ happen and Wooyoung can almost taste the sweet relief of finally forcing the words past his lips before they have the chance to dissipate. 

And yet.

*

Spring is a pretty sweet season in Wooyoung’s humble opinion. The weather is nice, not warm enough to constantly worry about sweat and rarely cold enough to bring out the winter clothes. Trees are blooming, flowers are breaking through for their turn to bloom too and it’s great. Until some insanely creative asshole plucks them out because it’s Valentine’s Day and apparently you’re only supposed to be nice to the person you love once a year.

“Don’t get me wrong, I do agree with you,” Yeosang says as they’re walking across the park on their way to the café. “But I think it’s kind of ironic how your supposed hatred stems from the fact that you would like to do these exact things.”

Wooyoung is too busy glaring at every happy couple huddled on the benches for a proper response. There is a charity bazaar happening too, tiny wooden stalls pushed together and full of chocolate and red and pink and more chocolate. He hates it.

“That’s not true,” he argues for the sake of it. “There are plenty of people who would be happy to share overpriced chocolate with me.”

“Sure,” Yeosang laughs, deceptively gleeful. “It’s just the person you wanna share it with is possibly the most oblivious one on planet Earth.”

Wooyoung kicks a tiny stone, only succeeding in scruffing his shoe on the pavement. “Stop calling me out. And besides, I think Seonghwa would agree that title belongs to Hongjoong.”

Yeosang considers it for a moment. “That’s fair. But do you really want the love of your life to go down in history as the second most oblivious person on planet Earth? Second only to _the_ Kim Hongjoong nonetheless?”

It makes Wooyoung stop in his tracks. It’s not that he thinks Jongho is particularly oblivious. He is probably not? But Wooyoung’s heart grew twice in size since the moment he saw Jongho and here they are, months and months later: Wooyoung spending his time grumbling about happy couples when all Valentine’s meant to him before was extra chocolate for dinner, maybe a nice date once in a while. 

It means Jongho probably has no idea that Wooyoung has been extra sweet to him whenever he asks for things. Or that Wooyoung doesn’t particularly like coffee but he loves the triumphant smile on his face when he makes the perfect amount of foam on a cappuccino. Or-

Their friend group is close enough to survive a disaster crush and Wooyoung is not shy, never has been.

Yeosang startles when Wooyoung grabs him by the shoulders. “Today. Today is the day.”

He only gets a blink in response but it doesn’t matter. Today.

Today he will stop moping around and will Do Something.

*

It’s a little late to plan an elaborate Valentine’s date considering it is Valentine’s already but Wooyoung is hopeful. A while ago, Jongho had complained about having the afternoon shift on Valentine’s which meant extra annoying couples. 

Right now, though, this means that Wooyoung has another two hours to take Jongho on the best impromptu date in his life.

He ditches Yeosang in the park (not without complaints) and hurries towards Jongho’s dorm on campus. He sends a quick text on the way, mostly to give Jongho a moment to get used to the fact that he’s being taken out.

What Wooyoung doesn’t expect is for Jongho to be downstairs, already waiting by the time he shows up.

“That was fast,” Wooyoung laughs, uncaring about how out of breath he sounds. Today is The Day and the butterflies are unstoppable.

Jongho shrugs. “It sounded urgent. Where are we going?”

“The charity bazaar in that park on the way to the café,” Wooyoung only gets a confused look, so he hurries to elaborate. “I’ve been wanting to check it out.”

“Whatever you say,” Jongho grins and from everyone else, it would’ve sounded teasing or annoyed or- but Jongho is _smiling,_ and it only sounds indulgent.

It’s not the first time it hits him but Wooyoung is so, so far gone it truly is ridiculous.

*

“So what exactly are you looking for?” Jongho asks, absently poking at an obnoxiously pink keyring fluff ball. 

Wooyoung shrugs. “I’m not really sure.”

He’s looking for a gift - a cheesy, disgustingly romantic gift - even if Jongho doesn’t need to know that. So far the date isn’t going as he planned. To be fair, there wasn’t much of a plan in the first place and he’s not particularly sure what a shopping date entails. Maybe it’s going good. Maybe Wooyoung should’ve chosen somewhere where they could sit and talk for their first date, so Jongho could get wind of the fact that he is, indeed, on a date.

But Wooyoung didn’t choose a place they could sit and talk and none of the stalls have anything that feels right.

He’s getting increasingly frustrated with each fluffy pink keyring they pass and to his horror, Jongho notices.

“Hey, you okay? Also, I think we walked past this stall already.”

Wooyoung huffs. “I’m great!” He is. His date is going _great._

It eats at him, the sudden tension in the air when this was supposed to be _nice._ Today was supposed to be The Day. But the clock is ticking and Wooyoung is no closer to convincing Jongho this is not a simple trip to the park.

Jongho grabs his wrist and Wooyoung halts. He didn’t even realize he was speeding up. 

“Hey,” Jongho says, voice gentle. “You know you can tell me things, right? I don’t know if I’ll be able to help but I’ll try.” There is a smile again but it’s a tentative one and Wooyoung doesn’t like it. “That’s what friends are for.”

Right. Friends.

“I know,” Wooyoung says, and he does know, it’s just that it makes it worse. “Hey, you should probably head for the café already, I don’t want to make you late for your shift.”

Jongho looks like he’s about to protest but Wooyoung cuts it off by simply - walking away. He heads for a new stall and doesn’t wait for Jongho to follow. There is still enough time to Jongho’s shift that the dismissal is glaringly obvious, even if Wooyoung didn’t quite plan it this way. Jongho doesn’t follow.

It doesn’t matter. The Day is no Day at all. It’s just a day, and a pretty bad one at that.

Valentine’s is a joke and Wooyoung is even more so for buying into it.

*

About fifteen minutes later, Wooyoung gets a text from Seonghwa.

_Care to tell me why Jongho is almost an hour early for his shift and sulking in the back room???_

Wooyoung doesn’t deign him with an answer. Seonghwa can’t prove it was Wooyoung’s fault, even if his crush has probably been visible from space to everyone in the vicinity. Everyone except Jongho, of course.

Contrary to Wooyoung’s hopes, Seonghwa doesn’t relent.

_Jongho wouldn’t tell me so I texted Mingi and he told me you took him out today._

_Is this a relationship drama? It’s relationship drama, isn’t it? Wooyoung._

Of course Mingi would. It’s getting a little hard to ignore Seonghwa’s texts and harder to ignore the unpleasant twist in Wooyoung’s gut. Finally, he unlocks his phone.

_We’re just friends. There is no relationship to make drama of._

Seonghwa’s answer is almost instant.

_Oh my god. Oh my god, Jung @Wooyoung, am I surrounded by oblivious children? Is that what you two ae?_

Wooyoung stares at the typos in mild horror. It must be pretty bad, for Seonghwa to not proofread his texts. But still, he doesn’t relent.

_Wooyoung??? Wooyoung I am fairly sure I can hear sniffling from the back room and Jongho will not open the door WOOYOUNG YOU HAVE FIFTEEN MINUTES TO COME HERE AND FIX THIS._

It’s not fair. The twist in Wooyoung’s gut tightens and guilt is mixing up with indignation because he is a part of this situation too, goddamn it. And like clockwork, his phone pings again.

_For your own good too, love. We both know who’s the more oblivious one between the two of you. I trust you._

Trust Seonghwa to always know what to say.

The gift will need to wait because as much as Wooyoung hates the idea of seeing Jongho again this soon, he hates the idea of him sniffling alone in the café even more.

The gift needs to wait but - it doesn’t. Something catches Wooyoung’s eye from the window of a rather unremarkable toy shop. The perfect gift may exist, after all. Maybe today still has time to be upgraded from a day to The Day. 

He ducks into the shop before he has time to talk himself out of it.

*

Seonghwa seems torn between compassion and annoyance when Wooyoung shows up. He pays it no mind. Seonghwa’s default expression is conflicted, especially when it comes to his own oblivious fool case. Having it doubled is probably not good for his nerves.

Wooyoung heads straight for the staff only door, holding his gift bag so it's hidden from sight. The sweet old lady that sold it to him had offered to actually gift wrap it for him, with a bow and everything. Wooyoung's mind had immediately conjured a best case scenario in which they have their teary confession moment while Jongho is trying to fight a wad of wrapping paper - so a gift bag it is.

Even if happy tears did cross his mind, Wooyoung didn’t expect actual tears to be involved. Yet this is exactly how he finds Jongho: curled up on the bench that doubles as a wardrobe for their bags and coats when it’s cold enough for them. All of those are now pushed to the side, some on the floor (Seonghwa’s one of them, Wooyoung notes with horror). Jongho is taking up the free space, curled up and - yes. Sniffling. 

Wooyoung wants to reach back in time and give himself a good old kick in the teeth.

“Please don’t cry,” he says instead of a hello, because comfort has never been his thing.

Stealth apparently is, though, because Jongho startles. He gives Wooyoung a watery smile anyway. “It’s okay. I had some very grand realizations, they had to come out somehow.”

Wooyoung’s heart is trying to beat its way out of his throat. “What kind of realizations?”

“You already knew, didn’t you?” Jongho laughs, a little lighter than what his expression might suggest. “It looks like I was the last one to notice.”

“Good things take time,” Wooyoung says, quietly. It’s a thing he says often, usually as an excuse, but this time it feels different. Today is The Day, after all. He takes a deep breath. “I think I’m a little in love with you. I have been for a while.”

Jongho watches him for a moment that feels like a lifetime. “I think I might be a little in love with you, too. Are you mad at me?”

A laugh bubbles out of Wooyoung. It’s like he accidentally stepped into a badly made movie of his life. “Why would I be mad? Are you not confessing your eternal love to me right now?”

“Shut up,” Jongho laughs, for real this time. His eyes wander to the bag in Wooyoung’s hand and - right. That was there, too.

He thrusts it into Jongho’s hands before he can talk himself out of it. “It reminded me of you,” Wooyoung blurts out as Jongho takes a small otter plushie. It holds a heart, too and the lady that sold it to Wooyoung was convinced his ‘girlfriend’ would love it. “They had these couple ones, they held hands but I thought that would be a little awkward if you did actually want to be just friends.”

That makes Jongho look up. “Did you really think I would want that?”

“It was a possibility,” Wooyoung shrugs. “I can’t expect you to magically fall in love with me just because I am.”

Jongho gently puts the otter back into the gift bag, then places it on the floor. He tugs Wooyoung into his lap instead.

“There was a card too,” Wooyoung mumbles, even if he doesn’t protest. “It was this adorable bear pun.”

“Did you get the animal wrong?” Jongho laughs, more breath than sound.

Wooyoung rolls his eyes. “There were no otter ones and I was already being cheesy. Go big or go home, right?”

Jongho says nothing for a while, his hands wrapping around Wooyoung’s waist to keep him from losing his balance. “Was the bazaar supposed to be a date? And I ruined it.”

“We both ruined it,” Wooyoung corrects. “It was a bad first date and I had grand plans of finding something nice and meaningful that would give you an inkling of my feelings. It would’ve been great but nothing felt right.”

“What was that saying,” Jongho says, pulling Wooyoung a little closer. “All is well when it ends well? Something like that?”

Wooyoung doesn’t particularly care, if he’s being honest. He wraps his hands around Jongho’s neck, breath ghosting over his lips. “Kiss me.”

Jongho doesn’t seem opposed at all.

*

Getting to be cute with Jongho is totally worth the disgusted (Yeosang) and teasing (San) looks their friends give them. Day to day life doesn’t change that much because Jongho still tries extra hard with Wooyoung’s lattes and they still hang out within the group, except now Jongho wraps an arm around Wooyoung’s waist when he feels like it. Sometimes goes for a kiss, too, except that always causes an uproar even if Wooyoung never fails to flip off whoever’s protesting.

They are all hypocrites, though, because it must be a full-group conspiracy when Wooyoung opens the door to his dorm room to a small gift bag sitting atop his bed. Jongho doesn’t have a key and Wooyoung doesn’t have a spare. Still, the gift bag, the same gift bag Wooyoung had given the otter in, sits there on his bed and Wooyoung has no doubt who it is from.

He sits down, picks the bag up and takes a deep breath before digging into it.

It’s another otter. It’s similar to the couple ones Wooyoung saw in the shop but this one has _Jongho_ embroidered across its tummy. Its tiny hand has a piece of velcro on it. Like it’s meant to be holding hands with its other half.

Wooyoung digs into the bag again and sure enough, there is a card too. It has two otters, holding hands like Wooyoung’s and its other half probably do. Right above them, in nice, pale pink letters it says _We were meant for each otter._ Wooyoung laughs, muttering an _overachiever_ under his breath.

Just in time, his phone pings with a new message and when he looks down, Jongho’s name with three different hearts blinks back at him.

_are you home yet?_

Wooyoung rolls his eyes, quickly typing out a _cheeseball._

He receives a series of sparkly heart emojis followed by, _i have Wooyoungie here to keep me company too. him and John are becoming great friends._

John. Who even names their otter plushie John? Wooyoung laughs, glad there’s no one to witness him being ridiculous.

Instead, he sends, _you’re ridiculous_

_you love me!_

It’s far from a lie but Wooyoung doesn’t feel like admitting it right now either, so he sends his own row of hearts instead. Whatever. There is no one to witness him being ridiculous, after all.


End file.
